Music touches our intellects, our bodies, and our spirits in equal measure. It can express thoughts, feelings, and sensations and it can appeal very directly to our essential selves. Music creates identities and communities. All of these features of music can be ambivalent. Music can build bridges in times of conflict, when words fail us and dialogue is difficult; but it can also reinforce images of enemies, make us aggressive and justify violence. “Evil people have their songs too,” but these should not go unquestioned. What matters is to attune people to the many present-day and future challenges we face.

The essays in this volume address the constructive potential of music in international relations. Scientists, artists, politicians, and those working in cultural fields discuss the ways in which music can contribute to social cohesion, to overcoming trauma, to shaping cultural diversity, and to promoting processes of peace and democracy both within societies and in international relations.

Music Opens Up Worlds is the sixth volume in the series “Perspectives on Foreign Policy,” which addresses contemporary issues in international cultural and educational politics.